I had a quite interesting day that started with a morning meeting with two fascinating Syrian sisters and continued with an enjoyable Catalan Spanish professor. I then shared Japanese entrees with two friends that for me look like an old charming married and divorced (971246 times) couple. I obviously was late for work today… Happily late…

But since I left this adorable pair of friends, I couldn’t stop thinking about the discussions we had, some character traits that always surprised me and the different ideologies we believe in… So, like everyone, I googled everything we talked about but mainly the differences between the pessimistic and the optimistic and the diverse directions in which one or the other evolves.

I then realized you need a pessimistic to see the missing stones in a scenario, and an optimistic to give him the power to still continue; a pessimistic to help avoid the worst and an optimistic to make him smile along the way.  The pessimistic will have a thousand plans to get to his goals; the optimistic might have a vague plan drawn on a piece of paper lost some months ago….

To you, my brilliant not-so-optimistic friend, I promise to do my best when it comes to undertaking any project and I also promise to always thank God for introducing me to you, because I know you will always see the holes before anybody else does and will do your best to avoid any crash…

But I also wish you will always remember that, whether half full or half empty, there is always room for some vodka in the glass

Chin-Chin,

Soraya

I found this picture on Facebook and liked it

Here are my 2012 resolutions and here is where I got:

• I promise Chak’ that no matter what happens whenever he looks back I will be there – This will never change!
• To all my readers, to Blog more often – Accomplished! And loved it
• To exercise more – Check!
• To go to Latin America – Didn’t get the chance to do it =(
• I will sit for the GMAT – I hate sitting for exams
• I promise to take at least one Big Risk – I did!
• I will do my best to learn something new everyday – Almost accomplished!
• I promise my marathon friend that we’ll go to Berlin together – Rescheduled for her Bachelorette =)
• My cousin that I will revisit – Loved it =)
• My parents, I promise them to always be their little girl and their biggest support – They did not need me! Ouf! Thank God
• Lebelik‘s designers, that they will see improvements every week – I hope they did!
• Say “thank you” more often – I think I did
• … – ……………….. and a thousand more

My 2013 resolutions might not be shared =)

Happy New Year to Everyone reading this…

Whether we like it or not the big majority of people believe they are on top of the world when all is doing well on these levels: professional, sentimental, religious, everything in relation to the family, their health, some important friends, their countries, it’s safety and how bright we see the next day and the years to come…
But the truth is when we think of our overall position we often tend to look at what’s missing instead of counting all our blessings… So why is it that sometimes we count backwards?
Some people say it is a way of improving and fixing the ugly parts, I think it’s ungrateful… We should always remember that “everything happens for a reason”, not necessarily for the reason we were hoping but for a valid reason we still ignore. So a lost boyfriend should mean a bad match, a broken deal will probably avoid later problems and a small health problem is here to lighten us up on everything that is beautiful around us and to remind us not to overlook the details, they count.

Always remember “no one ever said it would be easy, they just promised it would be worth it”. Therefore in whatever we do we ought to put all our hearts in it.

Everything will be alright…

Soraya

Yesterday I saw 4 friends… One Mexican,two Spanish and one Lebanese… And as always the joke was: “Do you remember when Louise use to say “In Lebanon….Bla….bla…bla”" A joke that always makes me smile and yet makes me so proud…

And even yesterday, I was proud!… Of course sad for what had happened in my beloved Beirut, but proud to know that it will take much more for me to stop smiling when my phrase starts with “In Lebanon…” Because in Lebanon, fathers will never stop working,  mothers will always have some much love and a tear (of fear, joy or sadness) but will always stand strong, brothers will always have each others back, expats will never stop buying, crimes will always hurt, newspapers will never stop judging, and kids will never stop learning…

We all dream/dreamed of energetic New York City, amazing Madrid, crazy Sao Paolo or vibrant Singapore… Many of us ended up in cold London, tough Africa, or rich Dubai… But at the end before going to bed, in so many different languages and with very diverse prayers, it’s only for one country that we all prayed…

Soraya with a tear…

So, My marathon friend is not picking up so I decided to post her Birthday wish here…

Dear Marathon Friend,

I hope that this year we’ll get to do all the crazy things we haven’t done yet, eat all the sweets we’ve never tried and enjoy fizzy drinks on fun occasions…

I am looking forward for the exciting 12months coming ahead!!

Happy Birthday,

Love always,

Soraya

As I was on Facebook I saw this and thought it would be fun to share it with you…

I always do some of the above mention points, often forget some others and rarely or almost never complete 25 of these ideas or more…

I hope you will at least tick 12 of these boxes right away….

Creatively yours,

Soraya

I often hear people complain about the traffic in Delhi,  the half-western-half oriental mentalities in Beirut, the weather in Montreal, the political situations in the Middle East, the security problems in Caracas, the mafias in Palermo, the obesity in the USA and the high unemployment rate in Madrid… So it kept me wondering, in another life (and not perfect life) Where would all these people like to be and what would they have done differently…

Woody just answered me that she would have liked to be exactly where she is!

In another life, I would probably will like to be surrounded with the exact same people I am surrounded by in the exact same place and with my adorable complicated family, but with some extra skills… No super powers, just skills… I would have liked to be a great photographer, an amazing dancer and a super talented journalist. I would still like to be working with/for/in Lebelik, writing here, swimming in the same gym, having coffees with the same friends and looking back at my 26years with my same smile…

But then again, why wish for another life when we have wishes to make and a future to look forward for… One day I will have my small cafe in NYC, own a bicycle, have my own column in a magazine I love and hopefully have all the little secret wishes I keep deep in my mind…

Many kisses to all,

Dreamy Soraya

PS: Please if you are not a big fan of Disney Movies disregard this post.

During this past week I’ve had long girly conversation with women I love, some I have just met and some I’ve always shared with dreams and secret stories… And I came to the conclusion: “It’s all Disney’s fault”

He is most likely responsible for most our dreams, half our problems and in my opinion also for all the little sparkles in our eyes in the morning and for all the amazing songs we love singing along with…

According to his world, the circle of life is perfectly balanced, every morning the towns wake up singing Bonjour, Bonjour, the women wait for their princes to come someday, the men live out of the bare necessities, thinking that life under the sea is the safest place on earth, and  just wondering what’s around the River bend… And for the first 20 years of our lives we believe in all that… But as we grow up we start remembering other parts of these same movies and prefer singing “I won’t say I’m in Love” rather than “A Whole New World”, we stop at I’ll make a Man out of you and smile every time we meet someone living in Cuzco…

So for all those that like me have some Disney songs on their Ipods, I will encourage you to always wish upon a star hoping that with a little bit of luck, a happy thought and some magical dust you will be able to fly super high and get to your highest goals…

And for the one I enjoy the most singing with our favorite Disney songs, I hope you’ll always remember you’ll never have a friend like me, but always will have much more than a friend in me =)

Love,

Soraya

I’ve been away for a while… So many things happen during this past weeks, some good some bad, some tough and some easy but I hope all of them for a good reason…
So tonight, I am sitting in my hotel room in Dubai and writing a post for the first time out of my iPad…
During these past weeks I went to Paris for a wedding, celebrated another one with good friends in Beirut, stopped by cecem (turkey) for work and I am now in Dubai for a meeting tomorrow.
On Tuesday I will be back in Beirut to start again my small routine… (btw, believe it or not I like the routine and my everyday habits, still I have been living a different lifestyle recently).

Wishing you all (and especially Michel) all the best,

Love,

Soraya

Yesterday I lost a friend… It’s horrible to say it, a bit more annoying to write it, and a thousand times much more difficult to live it…

Hi Philo (that is how I used to pick up the phone, with a childish tone and a happy smile),

You are so missed here… Everyone misses your kindness, fun jokes and crazy remarks… But a lot of us are angry at you, or with you should I say… Why did you keep us out of this? We were all willing to return the favor: to do our best to make you smile, to force you to laugh at our silly jokes and to share some little secrets that would have amused you… When people get married it’s usually “For Better or Worse”, why isn’t friendship a type of marriage Philippe?

But then again you are not like everybody else…. You’re proud, optimistic and discreet….

Yesterday I started reading our facebook conversations, and the last thing you wrote was: “Louisa, t la?” (here?) I wasn’t there and never answered back…

Philo, next time I go to Paris, I promise to have a glass of champagne at “Coq” with a smile, a “mhallabiya” with the perfect texture, and will stop by Tourville…

I wish I could back just one week to answer : “Always, Always…”